Tips To Maximize Value From Travel Points And Loyalty In 2024
We found many ways to maximize value from travel points and loyalty in 2024. As we travelled in 2024, we earned points, miles or nights towards renewing Elite loyalty status for another year.
During the year, we used our hotel points for some amazing luxury stays. After we renewed our status for the next year, we used our points and status for great airline travel and more luxury hotel stays at almost no cost.
Our Elite loyalty status got us lovely amenities, free breakfast, upgraded rooms, airline lounge access and upgraded airline seats. We were always happy we got all we could from our Elite status. Hopefully these tips will help you enjoy more from your travels too.
How We Did With Travel Loyalty Status In 2024
We started 2024 with few firm travel plans but quickly filled the year with exciting adventures. Our Marriott Bonvoy status was renewed for the year at the Ambassador Elite level. This status level gave us bonus points for every stay, free breakfast, the opportunity for room upgrades, upgrade awards and a personal Ambassador to help with any hotel stays or issues. Throughout 2024, we earned a total of 115 nights to get our Ambassador Elite status renewed for 2025 (100 nights needed).
| Paid Hotel Nights | 66 |
| Hotel Nights Booked With Points | 14 |
| Bonus Nights From Promotions | 20 |
| Bonvoy American Express Card Nights | 15 |
| 113 Nights |
Our Air Canada Aeroplan status for the year was at the 50K level. This gave us lounge access and eUpgrade Certificates to try to use for flight upgrades. This year we also got Priority Rewards for reaching specific flight cost milestones. These Priority Rewards allowed flights to be booked on points at a 50% rate. In 2024 we flew over 42,541 mi ( 68,463 km ). More than half of this mileage came when we did our great African adventure. Some of the mileage was earned on the flights for our first European river cruise. And the rest was accumulated with travel around North America. The final additional miles to renew our 50K status were earned on our TD Aeroplan credit card spending.
We were happy to retain our Elite status with both Marriott Bonvoy and Air Canada Aeroplan in 2024. But we did not do enough hotel stays at IHG One Rewards hotels to keep our Platinum status. Although we made sure we stayed enough to keep our status current so did not lose our accumulated points.
We also did not take any ocean cruises in 2024 so did not add to our elite status with Oceania, SilverSea or Viking. But we will make up for that with travel planned for 2025.
Sadly we did a lot of other travels in 2024 that did not accumulate any points or status – AirBnb stays, safari hotels in Africa, a Tauck river cruise and a Rovos Rail luxury train trip.
We did a lot of travel in 2024 and were happy we found ways to maximize value from travel points and loyalty in 2024 for those travel brands we used a lot.
Use Points For Great Travel – And Don’t Hoard Them
Most of our hotel nights were paid for in cash. But we booked a few special hotel stays on points. In previous years we learned that the best value came when we booked luxury hotels nights on points. And on our luxury hotel stays we got the most amazing room upgrades – even when booked on points.
For David’s birthday we enjoyed a luxury staycation on points at the Ritz-Carlton Toronto. In the winter, we escaped on points for a winter long weekend in Collingwood at the Westin Blue Mountain Resort.
We finished the year in the Phoenix area with a 5 day points stay at the Sheraton Grand Wild Horse Pass Resort and were assigned a great upgraded suite. We also applied our Nightly Upgrade Awards to this stay and were delighted when they were accepted and we got another upgrade to the Governor Suite!
It took us most of the year to renew our Air Canada Aeroplan 50K status. When it was clear we would not make the 75K level, we looked for opportunities to use points for flights. And got even better value when we used our Priority Rewards that reduced the points needed by 50%. We booked Premium Economy flights between Toronto and Vancouver on points at a 50% rate. And then even got upgrades to Business Class with our eUpgrade Certificates in both directions. From Vancouver we enjoyed a short trip down to Phoenix on points, again using Priority Rewards for Economy seats. Sadly these flights were so popular that we had no hope of being successful using eUpgrade Certificates for Business Class upgrades. But we sure finished the year with some far less costly flights!
It was always tempting to hoard our points for a special trip. But we found that every travel loyalty program devalued the points regularly. The number of points or miles needed for travel never went down. We continued to hold onto a large number of IHG One Rewards points for a special resort stay but still have not booked the trip. And every time we checked, the number of points needed increased.
Using points for great travel was a great way to maximize value from travel points and loyalty in 2024.
Great Upgrades Maximize Value From Travel Points And Loyalty In 2024
With top tier Elite loyalty status with Marriott Bonvoy, we had a better chance of getting great suite upgrades through the year. And we were delighted so many times with the amazing upgrades we got. On our winter getaway to Quebec City, we enjoyed a lovely large suite at the Quebec City Marriott Downtown. Splurging on my birthday with a long weekend in Savannah, our upgraded room at the Perry Lane Hotel was a special treat. My birthday treats continued with another great upgrade at the Westin Cape Town where we started our African safari adventure.
After our river cruise from Budapest to Amsterdam, we took the train to Belgium. Our one night stay in Antwerp got us a delightful room upgrade at the Sapphire House Antwerp to enjoy. We finished our visit to Belgium with a 4 day stay in Brussels. The Brussels Marriott Hotel Grand Place upgrade provided us with a room with a view in the heart of the city.
We got amazing suite upgrades on resort stays in 2024 too. We finished our trip to Europe with 8 days at the Marriott Praia Del Rey Resort which allowed us to explore the great outdoor adventures in Peniche in Portugal. Our lovely large suite provided us with an amazing view of the Atlantic Ocean on this return visit to Portugal.
It was always great to be treated to amazing suite upgrades on our travels. This was a wonderful way we loved to maximize value from travel points and loyalty in 2024.
Enjoy The Free Breakfast And Amenities Too
Our Marriott Bonvoy status provided us with free breakfast at virtually all hotels. Some people may not be morning people and may not value this benefit. But we loved to start our day with a good breakfast to fuel us for the day.
In many hotels, the free breakfast was a buffet. But the buffet quality varied widely. We loved when buffet breakfasts included an omelette station to get fresh cooked eggs. It was even better when the free breakfast included choices from the a la carte menu. We often chose delicious treats like pancakes or French toast that never were a good buffet choice. We were certainly spoiled with breakfast choices when we stayed at the Perry Lane Hotel in Savannah and at the Sheraton Grand Wild Horse Pass Resort in Arizona.
While we generally expected free breakfasts, we were often surprised with tasty amenities on our travels. On our luxury stay in Savannah at the Perry Lane Hotel we got an amazing welcome amenity. And every day new tasty treats were delivered to our room. Wine and a savoury treat were welcome on our winter stay in Quebec City at the Quebec City Marriott Downtown. And our amenity treat at the Ritz-Carlton Toronto was such a delicious surprise.
We were always happy when we got free breakfast and tasty amenities to maximize value from travel points and loyalty in 2024.
Maximize Value From Travel Points And Loyalty In 2024 With Lounge Access
Lounge access was included when we stayed at most Marriott Bonvoy hotels that had executive lounges. The big exception was for stays at Ritz-Carlton Hotels. Typically breakfast was served in the lounge for Elite guests, although at times guests had the choice of breakfast in the lounge or in the main restaurant. The lounge breakfast usually had smaller buffet choice. But it was quiet and a bit less harried than the large main buffet.
The hotel lounges also provided a pre-dinner appetizer menu. The food varied nightly. The small nibbles were good to hold you over to a late dinner. Since we often ate small meals at dinner, sometimes the appetizers were all we needed. Marriott Bonvoy lounges varied with regard to providing alcohol in the lounges. Many in North America had no free bar at all but offered drinks for a price. Some hotels we visited had beer and wine selections. And some even had a small selection of other spirits.
We were very happy that our Air Canada Aeroplan 50K status included lounge access for domestic, US and international flights from Canada. The lounges offered WiFi and comfortable seating with food and drink service. We often arrived very early for our flights so enjoyed a quieter spot to relax before we boarded. The biggest issue we found in 2024 was that lounges in some airports like Vancouver were often full and there was a wait to get in.
Our Air Canada Aeroplan 50K status made us Star Alliance Gold members. So when we flew from other airports, we had access to lounges available to Star Alliance Gold members. We had long layovers in Frankfurt on our great African adventure. But in Frankfurt we had access to the Lufthansa Senator lounges. And these lounges were a cut above the other lounges we visited in space, food and drink selection.
Lounge access was a real treat on our travels and one of the great ways to maximize value from travel points and loyalty in 2024.
Plan Carefully To Increase Chance Of Airline Seat Upgrades
We loved that our Air Canada Aeroplan 50K status include eUpgrade certificates. We used them in 2024 for upgrades from Premium Economy to Business Class for trips between Toronto and Vancouver. But we did not get upgraded every time we put in an eUpgrade certificate.
We learned a few tips to maximize our chance of successful flight upgrades:
1) Big Planes
Choose flights on bigger airplanes like the Boeing 777 or 787 and verify there are lots of empty Business Class seats when the flight is booked. If we booked flights on smaller planes like the A330s, there were less Business Class seats. And twice we found these airplanes downgraded to smaller planes and we were even moved from Premium Economy to Economy because Premium Economy was not offered on the smaller planes.
2) Continuing Flights
Book on flights that have continuing segments. These are often the big planes that pass through Toronto on their way to Vancouver. Or flights that come from Asia to Vancouver and continue on to Toronto. These flights are less likely to be cancelled. And many passengers depart before the plane continues.
3) Early Flights
Choose flights that are very early in the day. These flights are often less attractive and have more open seats. And there is less chance that people are moved from earlier flights.
4) Be Quick
Book early, submit your eUpgrade request immediately and check in as soon as possible. This can put you higher on the upgrade queue.
5) Pay For Priority
Book higher fares or earn higher status. Both of these may factor into your position on the upgrade queue.
We used these techniques and were pretty happy with how many times our eUpgrade attempts were successful on flights this year. We hated to miss out on this way to maximize value from travel points and loyalty in 2024.
Watch For Travel Bargains And Promotions
We are always on the lookout for travel deals. Even if we could not use points for a great travel deals, cash discounts and other promotions were valuable.
Both Marriott Bonvoy and Air Canada offered discounts on travel throughout the year. If we planned travel and a major holiday was coming up, we waited to see what discounts were offered for the holiday. We always checked to see if our destinations were included in the new deals. Sadly, we did not seem to be booking the right kind of travel at the right time for most of the deals.
Marriott Bonvoy also had had promotions through the year. We loved when we got promotions for “extra nights” for stays to help with retaining status. In 2024, we got an extra 20 nights on different bonus promotions. Marriott also had promotions that provided extra points for stays. In 2024, we got about 45,000 bonus points with promotions. This would get us a decent room for one night!
Much to our disappointment, Air Canada offered minimal ways to earn extra miles or status dollars. When we flew on points, these flights did not count towards the miles needed for status. We got a small number of flight miles by spending in increments on our TD Aeroplan Visa card. Once we saw an offer of flight miles for booking hotels nights on the Air Canada site. But generally we must fly – a lot – to earn Air Canada Aeroplan status.
The other promotion we used in 2024 was to buy points for both Marriott Bonvoy and AirCanada Aeroplan when offered at a discount price. Several times a year we checked out different offers. Typically we only bought discounted points when they were at a really great price (e.g. two for one) or if we needed a specific number of points for a special treat and the sale price for points was very good.
Travel bargains and promotions helped us towards loyalty status and free travel on points.
Look For Other Ways To Get Travel Points
We got most of our travel loyalty points from travelling. But we watched for other ways to earn extra points.
Credit cards were a good way to get extra nights and points. Sadly there was only one Marriott Bonvoy credit card in Canada. If you lived in the U.S., there were many more cards and bonus offers that provided both nights and points. But I have heard that other countries may do even worse than Canada.
The Canadian Bonvoy American Express card provided 15 nights annually although we got this for only one card even though we had multiple cards. Each month, Marriott Bonvoy points were awarded for credit card spending. Marriott hotel stays earned 5x the dollar amount and other “travel” earned 3x the dollar amount. Airbnb was considered “travel” but stays at other hotel brands were not.
Similarly, our TD Aeroplan Visa card earned AirCanada Aeroplan points for spending. AirCanada flights provided 1.5x the dollar value as did purchases for eligible gas and groceries.
In 2024, we also got extra AirCanada Aeroplan points when online ordering through the Aeroplan shopping portal. Aeroplan had a wide variety of brands on their portal and when we did not forget, we used the portal. There was a points multiplier that changed through the year and there were special offers for increased multipliers at different times of the year.
Both Marriott Bonvoy and AirCanada Aeroplan had joint agreements with Uber. So by linking my Uber account I got extra points for Uber rides. AirCanada Aeroplan also had a joint agreement with Starbucks for purchases and card balance top-ups. Both of these were easy and quite transparent ways to add a small number of points to our loyalty account.
We found some interesting ways to help maximize value from travel points and loyalty in 2024.
Be Careful About Stranding Travel Points But Enjoy Some Great Stays When You Can’t Travel With Your Loyalty Brands
When we first started to travel a lot, we booked travel without any kind of strategy or loyalty plan. We used a travel points credit card and got some great travel using those points. Probably our best deal was flying Emirates First Class and having a shower onboard the plane! But as we travelled more we learned the value of building travel brand loyalty points and status.
Sometimes there were simply no loyalty programs for locations we visited. On our great African adventure, we found very few Marriott Bonvoy hotels for the unique experiences we wanted. So we stayed in a lovely boutique hotels and safari lodges. We earned no points beyond what we got through our credit card spending.
In many places we don’t have good hotel options or we want the extra space we get with AirBnb rentals. In 2024 we had some great AirBnb stays on our travels on the Sunshine Coast and on our first stay on Manitoulin Island. Sadly AirBnb had no loyalty program at all! But travelling in 2024, we started to book home stays with Marriott Homes and Villas. This gave us access to some of the same properties listed on AirBnb and let us collect loyalty points and dollars as well.
Over the years we got better at not stranding travel points. But we made choices that got us some interesting stays even at the expense of gaining points and loyalty.
We Found Ways To Maximize Value From Travel Points And Loyalty In 2024
We were glad we found many ways to maximize value from travel points and loyalty in 2024 and hope some of these tips will help you too.
Our travels in 2024 ensured we earned points, miles or nights which got us renewed status for another year with both Marriott Bonvoy and Air Canada Aeroplan. Our hotel points got us some amazing luxury stays and our airline points provided us with some cheap air travel at the end of the year. It was always great to enjoy the tasty amenities, free breakfast, upgraded rooms, airline lounge access and upgraded airline seats that status and point provided.
Our elite loyalty status ensured we had much enhanced travels through the year.
Did you maximize value from travel points and loyalty in 2024? Any other tips?
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That is nice that you found ways to use travel points and get discounts on travel. I always use credit card points and frequent flyer accounts. I hope to be able to travel more, and it helps to be savvy when it comes to budgeting and money.
We do love when we can save money or get great upgraded travel experiences for no coast.
You guys did so well using your points. I have never had one mainly because I don’t travel so much internationally and in Italy these kind of cards are rare. I never knew that some breakfasts weren’t free. The lounge access is so helpful!
We travel enough that it was great when we finally started to get benefits from travel loyalty points and status. The perks can really elevate a stay.
Great information about using points! Lounge access saves so much money on food, especially in expensive countries. We stayed at Marriotts across Switzerland and getting those free ‘dinners’ saved an incredible amount of money!
We were always glad to have breakfast and lounge food on our travels with Marriott. Helped save money and we had to search for less spots to eat too.
Using points to travel sounds like a fantastic idea and you guys have done so well. I am yet to adopt this travel style but you have certainly inspired me!
We were happy when we finally started to focus on travel loyalty programs. Good value for sure.
Awesome value to bring to your travel, I never used one as in Europe it’s travel points goes only with one airline…
I understand that Europe does not have the same number of travel lovalty programs. I guess Canada is not as bad. But the U.S. has amazing opportunities for good travel loyalty programs.
You could teach a master class on reward points and stays. I always learn something from you!
I am glad you learned something from this post on maximizing travel loyalty points and status. Each year we learn a little more and are happy to share.
Such an informative post! The tips on getting the most out of travel points and loyalty programs are super practical. Perfect timing for planning 2024 trips. Thanks for sharing!
I hope some of these tips for maximizing travel loyalty points and status bring you some great rewards for this coming year of travel.
This article is full of great tips for getting the most out of travel points and loyalty programs! I love how you shared specific examples like your stay at the Ritz-Carlton in Toronto and the Perry Lane Hotel in Savannah—those upgrades sound amazing. Your advice about using points for luxury stays and not hoarding them is really smart and inspiring.The breakdown of how you earned status with Marriott Bonvoy and Air Canada Aeroplan is super helpful too. It’s a great guide for anyone who wants to make their travel rewards go further.
We have learned so much about getting great value from our travel loyalty points and status. Glad to know these tips were helpful.
That is such a helpful post! I so agree about not hoarding the points. I realized that when I could never book a flight with Emirates no matter how many points I accumulated.
We spread our points thin across travel brands when we first started and realized they then had no value. Consolidating the points to a few brands helped.
Wow, you do an incredible job of maximizing your point use. We have lifetime Platinum Elite status at Marriott (some years qualify for higher), but we tend to use our points on free nights for short stays throughout the year (many go to our stays at the Courtyard in Oxford next to the castle when we visit our son). We should think about using some for upgrades as well.
We do spend some time thinking about how to get value from our travel loyalty points and status. It was great to reach our target status levels and be able to use points for some splurge plans and for extra trips. We still have a few years before we get Marriott lifetime Platinum status. And that may change our strategy a little.
So many great tips, thank you for sharing!
Glad you found the tips helpful on maximizing value from travel loyalty program points and status. We love when others share tips that help us.
I always love looking at the luxury places you stay. We are slowly building points for something like that…and definitely use our airline points often.
We loved the great travel experiences we got with our points in 2024. Does make it worth some trade-offs in our accommodation or flight choices.
Using travel credit card points has really helped me up my travels and have experiences I could never have without them! Love seeing how others use their points and redemption options out there. So many ways to get creative and use points.
It really is great to use points and loyalty to up our travel experiences. And we too love to get good tips from others.
This is great advice with good examples! Nicely done!
We are still learning about how to maximize points and status for travel loyalty programs. But happy to share our learnings.